Careers in Lab Sciences
It was an exciting event and discussion in May when The Job Forum focused on Careers in Lab Sciences, where you could see firsthand that Biotech offers a lot of opportunity for transferring one’s skills from one industry over to the Biotech industry.
The recent Job Forum Event was cohosted with UC Berkeley Extension, which offers adult education that helps prepare people to work on the science education they need and certifications they may want to earn for a career in lab science.
The program featured an experienced range of fascinating volunteers who shared their advice and encouragement, supporting job hunters with facts, guidance, and concrete information they can use to get their next job.
More than 30% of the job hunting attendees at this event reported they are unemployed, and yet they possess a wealth of talent that The Job Forum thought will be valuable to employers who may want them for biotech roles and careers.
Careers in Lab Science offers plenty of opportunity at all levels.
One can become a clinical lab technician without an advanced degree nor a BA and in this lab tech career you’re collecting and processing and analyzing bio specimens via routine lab test.
Second, Another path is to become a licensed clinical lab scientist, also called a CLS, or a medical lab scientist. This requires a course of study and internships; you take your BA or BS degree. This pathway is usually for those who study biology or chemistry, and you earn a CLS license.
Then you are eligible and can work at a large academic hospital Medical Center or work at a community hospital or work at a public health clinic or go to work for private companies with a CLS license you can do research and development work in a lab work on medical information technology supervise the lab work as a health and medical educator work in blood labs and work in pharmaceutical companies. At Berkeley Extension you can take the core courses that are required for entry into the certified CLS training program or internship.
Entry level CLS.
How to break in to being a Clinical Lab Scientist?
Four qualities that were mentioned as being highly valued in a clinical lab scientist include critical thinking, creativity, presentation skills, and punctuality/accuracy.
Entry level in Biotech.
The panel also discussed other entry-level positions for example for someone with a BS degree in molecular biology. The question is where to focus one’s job search?
The answer is two pathways:
As an entry-level in Biotech, you would be likely looking for a research associate role whereas in academia for Lab Science, you’d be looking for a lab technician or research technician role with no lab experience.
It might be easier to get some experience in a lab in an academic setting and so it would be a good idea to speak with some of the biology professors from whom you took classes, perhaps there’s a research lab where you can get initial lab experience to help you qualify for more positions
Pivoting or switching:
One question is …
How or if one can move from a job as a research associate to a scientist role – without a PhD?
The discussion and advice is yes especially if the job hunter focuses upon smaller startups in Biotech as possible areas where you can have a higher chance of getting a scientist position. This pivot will be especially likely if you have quite a bit of experience as research associate and can demonstrate the deep understanding of the research you’ve been working on.
Other skills that are mentioned to be important are proof of ability to manage a project on your own, plus whether you can present research findings in a very articulate way, and whether you can plan project next steps.
Can you join biotech if you are coming from outside the biotech industry?
Another question: Is biotech really open to those from other industries?
The answer is that “it depends.” One participant asked about a background in chemistry and whether that would be relevant to Biotech, and another asked about a background in food and beverage with a focus on fermentation and yeast management and wondered if there were some fields in Biotech, where a focus specifically on Easter fermentation is going to be relevant. Another asked if being From IT in tech was going to be welcomed. The answers were yes to all.
Thank you to AbbVie of the SF Bay Area and to UC Berkeley Extension and to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you to expert speakers:
– Erin Gunther from Berkeley Extension
– Jonas Fowler, a stem biologist working in a biotech startup focused on developing cell therapies and gene therapies at Baker Labs
– Paul Henning, chief of the clinical lab, at Tripler Army, Medical Center
– Lisa Liu, product manager at Thermo Fischer Scientific
-Thomas Kampfrath from Siemens Healthineers and UC Berkeley Extension where he teaches clinical chemistry and quantitative analysis
Join us at the next careers in Biotech event on zoom on June 13: https://bayareabiotech.eventbrite.com
